GamespyDaily posted some brief thoughts by Richard Garriot, founder of Origin way back when, on the demise of Ultima Worlds Online: Origin. He offers a little bit of insight on what the suits at EA might have thought about the propositions for the game, as well as some hope for the former team:

On the other hand, personally, it could be an opportunity in the sense that my non-compete [agreement with EA] runs out here in about 8 days, and I was debating how to hire a team to get back into the business and I know a lot of the best people, a lot of my best friends who were at Origin, were very committed to their team and to their project and to the leadership around them within that company.